


Counterplay

by Evoxine



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Crush at First Sight, Gaming, League of Legends - Freeform, M/M, Sexual Frustration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 13:45:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16682737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evoxine/pseuds/Evoxine
Summary: It's not as if Jongin doesn't know just how good looking Sehun is – he watches the man's stream whenever he can, and it's only partly for the gameplay. He just never really expected Sehun to lookthatmuch better in person, a fact that turns out to be a Big Problem during Worlds.Fill #4 for my Sekai Secret Santa event.





	Counterplay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prettykidinyellow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettykidinyellow/gifts).



> For someone who doesn't really play the game, I spend way too much of my time watching gameplay.

**i.** Kim Jongin first lays eyes on Oh Sehun in the early hours of a Saturday morning.

He’s lazily scrolling through Twitch when he stumbles across Sehun’s stream, instantly recognising the username. _ABadDream_ – a new name that had suddenly exploded onto the scene and was soon regarded as one of the best top laners out of the competitive circle. Jongin has heard of him, of course, but he has never seen him play nor does he know what he looks like. Curious, Jongin clicks on the thumbnail and finds himself sucked headfirst into a whirlpool that.

Despite slight pixelation, _ABadDream_ easily takes his breath away, leaving behind a sharp sting in his lungs. It isn’t even (completely) about the guy’s looks; no, it is the sheer intensity on his face when he plays, the certainty in every click of his mouse and cast of his skills. He executes all of Riven’s combos perfectly – Jongin has never seen anything like it.

Before Jongin realises it, he has spent over four hours watching the stream. Stumbling into bed at dawn with bloodshot eyes, he dreams about a certain someone with a small, pleased smile that appears on his face with every kill. The moment he wakes up, Jongin scrambles for his phone and sends out a message to his teammates, demanding for _ABadDream’s_ real name while his face remains imprinted in his mind.

 

 

 

  
**ii.** Jongin still remembers the day he found himself matched against Sehun in a game.

It’s a couple of months after his discovery of Sehun’s Twitch channel, and on that particular day, he himself is in the middle of streaming his gameplay. For just a split second, he feels a strong urge to ban Riven. He hovers over her icon, but at the last minute, switches it out to a random champion.

As an AD Carry main, it’s his job to know how to deal with a champion that could nuke him in the time it would require for him to take a single breath. Especially in the hands of someone who knows her like the back of his hand. Competitively, Jongin doesn’t play against many good Riven players, and as such, he doesn’t have much practice playing against her.

“I want to play against him,” he tells his followers, leaning back into his seat with a crack of his knuckles. “I’ve seen him play and I think it would be a real challenge.”

New messages flood his comment box, with replies that range from _yaaaaas make him go 0-15!!!_ to _lol ur gonna get ur ass handed to you_. Well, either way, Jongin is pretty sure that the game would be an experience to remember. For an extra boost of difficulty, he locks in Vayne.

Barely thirty-five minutes later finds Jongin dumbstruck. His team has lost, and he has barely scraped by with a neutral score. Sehun, on the other hand, carried his team to a victory with a score of 12/5/8. Now, Jongin managed to take responsibility of most of Sehun’s deaths, but Sehun and his team ended the game before he could scale. Clearly, choosing Vayne was a bad, bad choice.

“Jesus.” Jongin slumps back in his chair and takes off his headset. There’s a thin layer of sweat down the expanse of his back and his comment box is exploding, much like the beat of his heart.

 

 

 

  
**iii.** It doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone when Sehun lands an exclusive contract with a professional team, but it is quite a shock when they discover that his team turns out to be Jongin’s rival team.

“Hey,” says Baekhyun, swivelling around in his chair with a grin on his face. “Doesn’t that mean that you’ll actually get to meet the guy you’re head over heels for?”

With an exasperated roll of his eyes, Jongin cracks open a can of beer and drains half of it in one swig.

“I’m not head over heels for him, I just think he’s cute and a damn good player. I have never even spoken a single word to him, so please don’t blow this out of proportion.” He makes a mental note to never tell Baekhyun – or any of their other teammates – that he regularly tunes in to Sehun’s streams, sometimes just to stare at the guy's god-crafted face.

The other player usually refrains from commenting about the results of his games and his thoughts on his opponents, so Jongin has never heard his own name mentioned. He has, however, seen his IGN – _OohLaLaLa_ – pop up more than a few times in Sehun’s comment box, and once, Sehun had happened to see one of those messages.

“He plays a mean Xayah,” Sehun had commented, pen spinning around his fingers. “And a pretty good Kai’sa. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to go up against him in lane.”

Jongin’s feathers had fluffed up so much after that, it’d taken all of his willpower not to brag. But no, contrary to popular (i.e. Baekhyun’s) belief, he’s not head over heels for someone he has never met.

 

 

 

  
iv. It’s three months to their next World Championship and Jongin’s already feeling the stress creep up his spine and settle into the already tense muscles across his shoulders.

They’d narrowly missed out on the Cup last year and Jongin does not want to lose again this year. But for now, his teammates seem perfectly content with fucking around, troll picking and throwing games just for the sake of their viewers’ entertainment.

“Guys, can we please practice? I swear to god, if we lose this year because you guys are troll picking shit like top lane Heimerdinger and jungle Shaco _who only camps top lane_ , I will actually kill you.”

Jongdae sniggers while Baekhyun pouts, “But Heim and Shaco are so fun together! Heim’s turrets and Shaco’s boxes –”

“This is literally the nineteenth time I have heard this,” Jongin snaps irritably, chucking a stuffed Poro at his friend. “Can we please have _one_ serious game? If not, I’m just gonna solo queue until you guys have had your fill of fun.”

“You should probably solo queue,” Junmyeon advises, tossing a look over to the other three. “Or if you want, I’ll duo with you.”

Jongin waves his offer aside. “It’s okay. They want to play with you. Go ahead, I’ll just solo for a bit.”

Queuing takes a long time – Jongin manages to take a trip to the bathroom and stop by the kitchen for a snack before the notification pops. The first thing he notices when the champ select lobby loads is the fact that he did not get ADC. The second thing he notices is the IGN of the person who _did_ get ADC.

 **ABadDream** : hey kim. guess we’re on the same team for now, huh? wanna trade?

Jongin blinks at the screen, completely forgetting the fact that the timer’s counting down.

 **ABadDream** : kim?

The sound of the new message startles Jongin and he immediately searches for Riven before selecting her.

 **OohLaLaLa** : yea sry, i was distracted. get me kai’sa if you can?  
**ABadDream** : yeah no problem

It turns out to be a weird game, to say the very least.

 **ABadDream (Riven)** : so why aren’t you practising with your team? worlds is pretty soon  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : they’re fucking around and refuse to focus =.=  
**ABadDream (Riven)** : ouch, so you’re stuck with solo q?  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : yea but when our manager finds out they’ll get their brains lectured into mush  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : so really it’s not too bad  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : how are ur practice sessions

It’s hard to focus on farming when you’re busy typing. Jongin misses quite a few creeps and his support ends up sending him a bunch of ???s.

 **ABadDream (Riven)** : intense  
**ABadDream (Riven)** : i’m not used to this much seriousness during a game  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : you’ll get used to it  
**ABadDream (Riven)** : this is my break game rn, destress a little before getting back into the grind

Their conversation screeches to a halt after Sehun gets three-manned under his turret. He manages to kill two before he dies, which Jongin thinks is quite an impressive feat, considering the tank he’s up against in lane.

 **ABadDream (Riven)** : damn probs could’ve taken them all if i had my second item  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : we should focus on playing  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : i think leona is about to kill me

Jongin doesn’t expect Sehun to compensate for the lack of conversation with camping his lane. Within the next few minutes, Sehun teleports down and works with Jongin and his support to take out the enemy bot lane, effectively helping them secure the turret. He loses his own in exchange, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

When they start to group, Jongin finds himself practically untouched by the enemy team. Leona does a pretty good job of peeling for him, but that doesn’t really matter if there’s no one on the enemy team left to defend against. Sehun had caught up – and surpassed many of them – in farm, and as he progresses towards full build, he’s able to burst the enemy team’s squishy damage dealers, leaving Jongin and their mid with the opportunity to shred through the remaining players.

 **ABadDream (Riven)** : nice. good team fight  
**ABadDream (Riven)** : another one or two like this and we can push into their base

Sure enough, they manage to engage in another team fight in the enemy’s jungle – well-placed Sejuani and Orianna ultimates set Riven up for an easy triple kill, and Jongin cleans up the stragglers.

 **OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : is this what it’s like to play with a good top laner  
**OohLaLaLa (Kai’Sa)** : shit don’t tell chanyeol i said that  
**ABadDream (Riven)** : haha we’re only on the same team for this game ;D

It’s a clean victory. At the post-game lobby, a notification pops up. Sehun had sent him a friend request.

 

 

 

  
**v.** Jongin has been playing competitively for years, but the rush of adrenaline that comes with large-scale competitions such as Worlds never gets old.

He still thinks their team uniforms are ugly as fuck, but they’re comfortable and the fabric somehow stays cool on his skin throughout the day, so he keeps his complaints to a minimum. It’s only the semifinals, but it seems as though the gymnasium is about to burst at the seams. Jongin can’t imagine what the size of the crowd at the finals would be like.

Their only game for the day is due to start in half an hour. Not wanting something to happen during the game (once, Baekhyun needed to pee so badly he just _stood up during the middle of the game and went_ , leaving Jongin without his support for a few painful minutes), their manager orders them to go relieve their bladders and grab a quick bite to eat.

He’s backstage digging into a chicken pie when something out of the corner of his eye catches his attention.

“Sehun?”

Holy shit, Sehun looks a billion times better in real life. Jongin suddenly has the urge to tell him to change his IGN to _AGreatDream_.

“Kim?” The surprise on Sehun’s face fades away to what Jongin thinks is a pleased expression. “Oh yeah, you’re playing today, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Sehun nods, a hand slipped into his jeans pocket. Dark hair flops into his eyes and Jongin’s heart mirrors the movement. What the fuck?

“Well, good luck. I hope you win; I’d love the chance to play against you in the finals.” There’s a mischievous glimmer in his eyes as he waves and continues on his way. Jongin simply stares after his retreating back, plastic fork dangling uselessly in his grip.

It’s clear that Sehun is extremely confident in his skills – at least confident enough to sound certain enough that he’ll be playing in the finals when his own semifinal match is tomorrow.

The butterflies in Jongin’s stomach multiply, and soon enough, he’s too buzzed up on adrenaline to want to finish his food. Pushing through the cramped space, he makes his way offstage and finds Junmyeon already there. There’s still a little over ten minutes before the match is due to start, but Jongin doesn’t want to stay seated.

“You ready?”

Jongin glances out at the assembling crowd. He thinks he sees Sehun’s silhouette somewhere in the middle, a flash of a cheeky grin. “As I’ll ever be.”

 

 

 

  
**vi.** As it turns out, Sehun got what he wanted – their teams are up against each other for the coveted title of 2018 World Champions.

Not wanting to look like a slob on this day, Jongin spends extra time painstakingly fixing his usually messy head of hair, even going to the extent to let Baekhyun run some wax through the strands. He gets a knowing look from Chanyeol that only serves to confuse him, so he shrugs it off and steps out of the dressing room for some air.

He's barely two steps out of the door when he walks right into someone's back.

“Hi,” Sehun says, grinning down at him.

Nonplussed, Jongin drags his bottom lip through his teeth and nods. “Hey.”

God, he's infuriatingly _hot_. They're at a bloody game competition but Sehun looks as though he's about to walk down a runway. How the hell does he make that shirt look good?

If Baekhyun were here, he would instantly pick up on the thoughts currently whirling about in Jongin's brain and proceed to laugh his head off.

“So how are you feeling? Excited?”

 _Stupidly attracted to you_ , Jongin wants to say. Instead, he clears his throat and nods. “I guess, yeah. Just want to play and get the game over with, honestly.”

“I want to savour the moment,” Sehun says, glancing around. “I mean, it's new for me and all. When I started playing, I never thought I'd be here, you know?

“Well, your team is lucky to have you here,” Jongin says. At that, Sehun breaks out into a sunny smile that nearly has Jongin choking on his own tongue.

 

 

 

  
The opening ceremony passes by in a blur of loud music and too many dancers. Jongin doesn't usually care for the player introductions, but he can't fight the instinct to glance up at Sehun's profile when it graces the screens. Judging by the screams from the crowd, they clearly feel the same way.

Suddenly, he finds himself in his seat, Baekhyun on one side and Junmyeon on the other. The MCs are busy talking, so Jongin lets his gaze trail over the crowd – the entire stadium is packed to the brim.

When his gaze lands on the opponent team’s table, it's met with a sharp, familiar one. Sehun's lips slowly curl into a smirk before he looks away, leaving Jongin's mouth dry and the hairs on his back of his neck standing.

Then, the game starts.

Unsurprisingly, the enemy bans Xayah. Surprisingly, their team comp turns out to be pretty decent for a Kai’sa match. Baekhyun glances over at him, eyebrows raised, and Jongin returns the gesture with his own. Maybe this is a sign that things will turn out well?

Sehun, with his Riven banned, chooses Irelia. He doesn't usually play Irelia when he streams, but it's an open secret of sorts that he knows her almost as well as he does Riven – and that's after her kit was completely revamped.

Loadouts are selected, fingers are crossed, and the countdown to the game begins.

 

 

 

  
It's tit-for-tat for the first four games.

But the last one…

They _lose_.

The game had started off pretty well, with Junmyeon getting first blood and Jongdae giving bot lane a decent gank. Jongin had been ahead in CS until Sehun teleported bot and completely annihilated both him and Baekhyun.

That single decision changed the entire course of the game. With two kills under his belt, Sehun took control of his lane. That done, he proceeded to take control of the game.

It really doesn't help that whenever Jongin spots Aatrox (they have learned to ban both Riven and Irelia after the first two games) on the map, Sehun's face flashes in his mind’s eye. ‘Distracting’ is one way to put it. By mid-game, it starts to grate on his nerves, and it's clear that it starts to affects his gameplay.

Jongin and his team did a decent job holding on – unable to feed off of Sehun, they switched their focus to the other players. That way, they kept the game going for much longer than expected, and Jongdae even managed to helped Sehun catch up with the other ADC. But ultimately, one person’s skills and decisions, coupled with teamwork, led one team to victory.

“Bullshit,” Jongin whispers, eyes starting to hurt from how hard he's staring at the final score. The stadium is thundering around them, but he can't hear anything else apart from the thick pulse of his blood in his ears.

Jongin has always taken pride in how he never lets stress or emotion influence his gameplay, so the unwarranted anger bubbling up in his chest feels… extremely foreign.

 

 

 

  
**vii.** A knock sounds on the door and Jongin pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Junmyeon, I said I would go back by myself. I don’t want a lecture, or –”

“It’s not Junmyeon.”

That voice triggers another wave of irritation that fizzes up behind Jongin’s eyes.

“I don’t want to talk to you either, to be honest.”

No sound comes from the other side of the door for a few moments, and Jongin’s just about to assume that Sehun had turned tail and left when the lock pops and the door swings open.

“What the f – I _locked_ that.”

“I picked the lock,” Sehun shrugs, sticking something into his back pocket.

Of course he did. Jongin bites down on the inside of his cheek and exhales heavily through his nose.

“Why are you here?”

“You know, I’m not the reason you lost,” Sehun says, crossing his arms. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re mad at me?”

“I know you’re not.” He curls an agitated hand around the back of his neck and squeezes, tense muscles crying at the pressure.

“So?”

Jongin wants to punch a pillow. “So what?”

“So why are you acting like this?”

“I lost,” Jongin begins, “because I got distracted.”

It’s clear that Sehun’s confused – his lips are parted and there’s a crease forming between his brows. “Huh?”

“ _You_ distracted me. And the worst part is, it took me this long to realise that it wasn’t just a one-time thing. You’ve been distracting me ever since that day I found you on Twitch. I just managed to push it back to the deepest, darkest, parts of my mind because I needed to focus on practice, but the second I saw you in person? Shit, it’s like the Kraken rose up and wrapped its tentacles around me and demanded I kept my mind on you.”

He mimics throttling something, envisioning that it’s his own skull he’s trying to shake like a snowglobe.

“So you’re saying you lost today because you couldn’t get me out of your mind.”

That’s a blunt way to put it and it’s _embarrassing_.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Jongin starts, turning around and heading back to the chair he had vacated. He’s just sinking into the seat when he’s yanked up by his arm and pulled against a solid chest.

He manages a breathy “What” before a pair of lips, soft and warm and just a little dry, land against his. It’s an insistent kiss, one that spikes up Jongin’s pulse and has him grabbing at the collar of Sehun’s shirt to tug him closer.

The kiss is a mess of tongues and teeth, and they suffer through one bite too many to the lips by the time they part for air.

Jongin doesn’t really know what’s happening, but he’s got an armful of Sehun and it’s nothing short of mindblowing. There’s a hand sneaking up underneath the fabric of that god-awful shirt before nimble fingers start working at the button of his jeans.

“I'm not gonna lie to you; I couldn't get your face out of my head for a long time, too." He kisses him again, then says, "You wanna stop this?”

The only reason he’d stop this is to tell Sehun that he’d just asked the stupidest question known to mankind. He walks Sehun backwards until his back hits the door, then reaches out to make sure the lock is engaged. Odds are, Junmyeon would double-back for him and he sure as hell doesn’t want to be caught with his pants around his ankles.

 

 

 

  
Still mostly dressed, Sehun’s got their cocks in his grip and they’re rutting up against each other like animals, breaths mingling as they trade open-mouthed kisses and rough love bites.

“You’re a damn good player, you know?” Sehun pants, head bouncing off the surface of the door when Jongin drags his tongue up the slope of his neck. “I actually started playing because of you.”

“You’re kidding.” The last syllable stutters out in a groan when Sehun swipes his thumb across their cockheads.

“Nope.” Sehun leans in, nips at Jongin’s lip, and grins. “Saw your stream one day, watched your late game Vayne. Downloaded the game after that. I even tried to main ADC, but that’s just not my thing. It’s actually the role I’m worst at, if you believe that.”

Jongin snorts, slipping a hand around the curve of Sehun’s back. “Somehow, I can.”

He cuts off Sehun’s half-hearted protest by wrapping his hand around what Sehun can’t. Together, they speed towards that peak of pleasure, moans thick in the air around them.

They climax almost simultaneously, spilling over their shirts, and Jongin faintly thinks _good riddance._ Sehun’s forehead drops against Jongin’s shoulder, and they stay like that for a while until their chests stop heaving and their breathing evens out.

“Well,” Sehun says, gingerly moving his tacky fingers. “I’m not sorry I distracted you.”

It’s hard not to laugh at that when you’ve just orgasmed at a really unexpected place.

“I’m definitely getting that Cup back from you next year,” Jongin warns, tucking himself back in and heading off to track down a pack of tissues.

“More than enough time to get those, ah, _distracting_ thoughts under control, huh?”

“Shut up,” Jongin sighs, but he doesn’t care that his words lack the sting.

**Author's Note:**

> So:
> 
> 1\. Riven and Irelia because my bf is a top laner and mains them LOL  
> 2\. Xayah because I like the sound of her feathers, and Kai'sa as a homage to K/DA  
> 3\. Good plays where the top laner TPs down to bot lane for a successful gank and snowballs from there are SO SATISFYING  
> 4\. Yes, their IGNs are their respective songs in the album – haha i'm so original  
> 5\. Up to you if you want to imagine them becoming something legit in the future or if they remain fuck buddies 
> 
>  
> 
> [Click for Links!](https://bluedveins.wixsite.com/evoxine)


End file.
